Public fury over pay for bankers will be reignited this week when Goldman Sachs kicks off the results season by announcing a fresh multi-billion pound payout to staff.

On Wednesday, the Wall Street investment bank is expected to report a sharp jump in net earnings for 2012.

Worldwide profits for the year are expected to have risen from about $4.4billion (£2.73billion) to £3.79billion and Goldmans is likely to set aside an astonishing £8.3billion for staff pay, bonuses and perks, which is up from £7.6billion in the previous year.

Fury: Goldman Sachs is likely to set aside £8.3billion for staff payout - up from £7.6bn in the previous year

The sum amounts to an average of more
than £250,000 for each member of staff at the bank, up from £230,000.

Many will have been paid several million pounds in salary, bonuses and
other benefits for 2012, including some of the bank’s 5,500 employees at
its London office, at a time when the Government is capping rises in
benefits at one per cent per year and when average earnings and public
sector pay are also being squeezed.

Rival JP Morgan will issue its 2012 figures on Wednesday. Its earnings
are likely to be down, partly due to a loss of £3.85billion on trades
made in its London office by a trader nicknamed the Whale.

The trader – French-born Bruno Iksil – along with colleagues built up
huge positions in complex derivatives gambling on big company debts.
JP Morgan was left with gigantic losses while hedge funds that had bet
against the Whale made healthy profits.
Its bonus pool may be lower than last year, but JP Morgan’s 26,000
investment bankers will not have to go hungry as they are thought to
have been paid an average of well over £186,000.

It was reported yesterday that chief executive Jamie Dimon’s personal
bonus could be docked as a result of the Whale trading. An internal JP
Morgan report into the saga is said to be critical of senior executives
for their inadequate oversight of the London trades.

The bank is
considering publishing the report.
Goldman Sachs escaped serious scandal last year. Its own London-based
trader Fabrice Tourre is still facing legal action in the US over a
controversial deal in which Goldman was alleged to have sold mortgage
investments to a German banking client while knowing that other
investors were gambling on the investments losing money.
Goldman settled with regulators without accepting any guilt.

But Tourre,
whose colourful and self-regarding emails led to him being dubbed
Fabulous Fab, will have to go through a civil trial due to start on July
15. His legal expenses are being covered by Goldman Sachs.
Other leading US investment banks with large London operations,
including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, will issue their results
later this month followed soon afterwards by Britain’s banks.

Once again banks here are likely to face pressure to curb bonuses after a
year of scandals and embarrassments for the industry, ranging from
soaring payouts for the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance –
where the bill is already running at £12billion – to the Libor
rate-rigging for which Barclays was fined £290million last year,
leading to senior resignations including that of chief executive Bob
Diamond.

Royal Bank of Scotland is understood to be close to agreeing a
settlement with regulators over the role played by some of its traders
in trying to rig the Libor rate, which is used to price billions of
pounds worth of loans and contracts.

Under pressure: RBS chief executive Stephen Hester and others may face pressure to waive any bonuses they might be due for 2012 following the Libor scandal

A settlement is expected to be announced next week and RBS is likely to
face being ordered to hand over an amount somewhere between the
£290million penalty for Barclays and the £950 million fine paid by
Swiss bank UBS.
It has been reported that RBS investment bank chief John Hourican and
Peter Nielson, head of markets, may face pressure to resign.

Although the pair had no direct involvement in the Libor rigging, they
were in charge of the departments where the offences took place.
Chief executive Stephen Hester is unlikely to face demands to go, but
the Libor scandal may trigger fresh pressure on him and others to waive
any bonuses they might be due for 2012.

Last year Hester declined to take a £1million bonus in the face of
mounting pressure from politicians and the public.

Antonio Horta-Osorio at Lloyds also waived his bonus last year and could
face similar pressure again this year, particularly as payouts for PPI
have continued to soar at his bank.

Horta-Osorio led the banking industry in agreeing to settle with
customers over PPI, but the decision prompted a surge in cases, fuelled
in part by an intensive advertising campaign by claims management
companies.
The cost to the banks – and to Lloyds in particular – has ballooned far
beyond early expectations.